As much as I love doing research, I feel great aversion doing it at the cost of countless animals being sacrificed. Being a passionate advocate of ethical and sustainable research practices, I am fascinated by the idea of using alternative in vitro platforms to reduce and ultimately replace animal testing methodologies. While I acknowledge the historical significance of animal testing and the complex physiological interactions that they provide, I firmly believe that the rapid advancements in the field of biomedical research and development of in vitro testing platforms such as microphysiological systems, organoids, 3D bioprinting offer a more humane and robust approach for toxicological assessments.
Scientist specialized in 3D biology with hands-on experience in high-throughput screening using physiologically relevant models. During my PhD, I focused on developing and optimizing 3D cell culture assays (such as spheroids, organoids, and 3D colony formation assays) for use in high-throughput settings, gaining strong expertise in assay design and imaging. In my industry role, I contributed to the automation of complex 3D biology workflows, supporting decision-making through advanced imaging and AI-based image analysis. I’ve worked extensively with iPSCs, adult stem cells, and various 3D assay formats, driving innovation at the interface of cell biology, automation, and data science.
PhD-level Tissue Engineer, science communicator, aspiring analyst developer. Experienced in pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), 2D/3D cell culture, organoids, in vitro cardiovascular biology and organ-on-a-chip applications. Passionate about alternatives to animal models following the 3R principle, and science communication to non-experts and general audience. Nowadays taking on new challenges as an analyst developer in the fintech industry, while keeping close ties with the scientific community and the exciting advancements in organoids and NAMs.
My current research interests include understanding the interactions between breast cancer cells and stromal cells in the tumour microenvironment, and how exercise may impinge on these interactions. We created a novel 3D model system for investigating the interactions between mesenchymal stem cells and 3D tumour spheroids, and are now branching into patient-derived organoids and adipocytes to model the obesogenic environment in hormonal breast cancers.
